formed after the eſtate is veſted, the eſtate ſhall become abſolute in the tenant. As, if a feoffment be made to a man in fee-ſimple, on condition that unleſs he goes to Rome in twenty four hours; or unleſs he marries with Jane S. by ſuch a day; (within which time the woman dies, or the feoffor marries her himſelf) or unleſs he kills another; or in caſe he alienes in fee; then and in any of ſuch caſes the eſtate ſhall be vacated and determine: here the condition is void, and the eſtate made abſolute in the feoffee. For he hath by the grant the eſtate veſted in him, which ſhall not be defeated afterwards by a condition either impoſſible, illegal, or repugnant[1]. But if the condition be precedent, or to be performed before the eſtate veſts, as a grant to a man that, if he kills another or goes to Rome in a day, he ſhall have an eſtate in fee; here, the void condition being precedent, the eſtate which depends thereon is alſo void, and the grantee ſhall take nothing by the grant: for he hath no eſtate until the condition be performed[2].
There are ſome eſtates defeaſible upon condition ſubſequent, that require a more peculiar notice. Such are
III. Estates held in vadio, in gage, or pledge; which are of two kinds, vivum vadium, or living pledge; and mortuum vadium, dead pledge, or mortgage.
Vivum vadium, or living pledge, is when a man borrows a ſum (ſuppoſe 200đ.) of another; and grants him an eſtate, as, of 20đ. per annum, to hold till the rents and profits ſhall repay the ſum ſo borrowed. This is an eſtate conditioned to be void, as ſoon as ſuch ſum is raiſed. And in this caſe the land or pledge is ſaid to be living: it ſubſiſts, and ſurvives the debt; and, immediately on the diſcharge of that, reſults back to the borrower[3]. But mortuum vadium, a dead pledge, or mortgage, (which is much more common than the other) is where a man borrows of another
